He doesn’t get gray hair or wrinkles, he doesn’t need glasses: even if Pumuckl turns 60, he keeps red messy hair and wide eyes. It was already clear to its inventor, the writer Ellis Kaut, who died in 2015, that goblins do not age. Her Pumuckl doesn’t even know what a pension is, she once said. The visual creator of the little tormentor, Barbara von Johnson, said: “Ghosts don’t age, they are timeless.”
On February 21, 1962, Pumuckl’s voice was heard for the first time. At that time, the kobold made its first appearance on Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) when the first Pumuckl radio play, “Spuk aus der Werkstatt”, was broadcast on the radio. The novels followed a few years later, followed by the television series and the first feature film in the 1980s. The figure also became known in France, Spain and even China.
Video: Master Eder and his Pumuckl – That was the first episode
The goblin only became visible in 1963. Back then, the illustrator Von Johnson had drawn the Pumuckl as a student at the Academy for Graphic Arts in Munich. With her idea, she promptly won a competition that the author Kaut had announced for her character, which until then had only been audible.
“Birthday is a beautiful day”
Pumuckl himself makes completely different statements in the episode “Pumuckl wants a birthday” from 1970. Because Meister Eder gets a cake for his birthday, the jealous descendant of the Klabautermanns claims that he was born exactly “seventy and thirteen years” ago a sailing ship during a bad storm. If one interprets “seventy-thirteen” as 83, based on French counting methods, he would be 135 years old today – 52 years later. The kobold should probably not care about such calculations. “Birthday is a beautiful day, I like birthday every day,” he crowed happily. That’s true in a way, says von Johnson. After all, Pumuckl experiences surprising adventures every day. And every amazement feels like a new birth.
To look up: “Pumuckl wants to have a birthday”
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The invisible goblin says his first words in master carpenter Eder’s workshop: “Pumuckl teases, Pumuckl hides, no one discovers!”, inimitable spoken by Hans Clarin. Like a real Klabautermann, the actor also came from the coast and gave Pumuckl his vocal character for decades, excitedly screeching, happily crowing or cheeky giggling, sometimes anxious or even choking back tears. In contrast, Master Eder, good-natured and sometimes grumpy, but always forgiving – first spoken by Franz Fröhlich and Alfred Pongratz, later by Gustl Bayrhammer, who then became the epitome of the kind carpenter with the TV series, who spoke about the jokes and poems of his kobolds could laugh so heartily.
In the decades of his Klabauter existence, Pumuckl also went through a number of life crises. He even had a girlfriend for a while. Von Johnson had children draw a girl next to him in a painting competition, to the annoyance of Kaut, who saw her copyrights infringed and went to court. The Munich District Court I finally granted Pumuckl the girlfriend, as well as a wedding. But nothing came of it. Pumuckl, then in his late 40s, remained single – and von Johnson and Kaut reconciled.
belly and beer
A few years ago, in his 50s so to speak, Pumuckl briefly behaved like some men his age: diet and muscle building, washboard abs. In 2015, the Kosmos publishing house published a book with a sporty, dynamic Pumuckl. But the fans protested and Pumuckl was allowed to keep his tummy.
The leprechaun is still popular today: adults become nostalgic and children love his cheeky sayings. But the fact that the goblin likes to drink beer annoys some people. In fact, in addition to chocolate, “Puddeling” and sausage, Pumuckl also loves beer and even owns a shot glass-sized jug to toast with Master Eder.
“Drinking beer was part of the evening, that was a different time,” said Maya Götz from the International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television (IZI) in Munich. It’s different now: “Every representation of alcohol would be carefully considered today.” However, experts doubted that children would become alcoholics as a result. Especially since Pumuckl feels really bad when he drinks schnapps like in a radio play episode. And after taking a puff on a cigarette, he has to cough terribly and moans: “I’m so sick, I can never smell a cigarette again.”
RTL is planning a new series
Will the new Pumuckl series that the RTL broadcasting group is planning do it differently? Nothing can be found out about it. All that is known is that Marcus H. Rosenmüller (“Trautmann”) will direct and that production companies Beta Film and Neuesuper will start shooting in the spring.
The intention was to preserve the Bavarian soul and create a contemporary entertainment series for the whole family, the announcement said. In comments to this message on the Internet, Pumuckl fans agreed: “There’s nothing like the original”. And that is currently available at Amazon Prime, in the ARD media library and in the ARD audio library. Happy Birthday!
Source: Nachrichten
